We spent a few nights in Hocking Hills State Park for my 30th birthday. I love it, it's probably been 13+ years since I was last there. I couldn't talk my wife into sleeping in a tent, but the cabin was really nice. It was a great birthday, one that I will measure all others against.

Hey mkeller234, what an angel, she is adorable! Your daughter looks just like my angel did at that age, she still like to wear her green knit froggy beanie that out neighbor knitted for her. Soak up her preciousness every single day, she'll grow up so quickly. I completely understand what you're saying about birthdays, for me birthdays took on an entirely different meaning after my little one was born. I turn 42 in about week and she'll be turning 8 a week later, I feel compelled to to make sure that she knows daily that she is so special but especially so on birthdays... gotta be princess for a day! An easy trade off for all the joy she brings to our home!

My new toy. Its a 90 bmw 325i. Buying it thursday from the original owner who had every maintenence record going back to 1991. Nw tranny and clutch, new top, perfect interior with cold a/c and heated leather seats. Original wheels included in the sale which will go back on as soon as i get it. Those ghetto rims will be sold.

Yeah holiday, I think you might do better to head over to the recycling center and see what they'll give you instead... not sure that I'd want to taken my chances with someone on Craigslist coming to outfit their Saab with some new bling! Just sayin'...

It's a vacuum chamber for a pulse plasma experiment in the lab I work in. Should be sealed up tight enough to achieve pressures of 10^10 torr (for reference: a torr is 1/760th of an atmosphere). The seals are those copper rings in the picture with the quarter, the covers are torqued so the knife edge deforms the copper and creates a seal. The chamber is a salvaged unit (with ports upon ports with some extra ports thrown in for good measure), but the hardware and the covers (the large covers are about $200 a pop) are all brand spanking new.

I believe the thinking is that inside the vacuum, a plasma will be submitted to an electromagnetic field with the hopes that the field creates a point of compression and, ideally, thermonuclear fusion

Or, it's a time machine. Who knows- I'm just paid to turn wrenches.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiegoFrogs

Leak checking a chamber that complex must be a horrible pain in the behind! Is it some kind of deposition tool?

That comes tomorrow, should be a party. Thankfully leaks into a vacuum aren't that difficult to find with an active pump and a pressure gauge- squirting just about any liquid on the flanges of a port will, if there's a leak, draw the liquid in, and then the liquid will expand rapidly, increasing the pressure by a power of 10 or more. It's pretty obvious. That doesn't mean it won't be tedious though.

As a total aside, when I worked fixing cars, one of the most tried and true ways to find a vacuum leak was to wave an unlit propane torch around the vacuum lines of an idling engine and listen for the increase in idle speed.

It's a vacuum chamber for a pulse plasma experiment in the lab I work in. Should be sealed up tight enough to achieve pressures of 10^10 torr (for reference: a torr is 1/760th of an atmosphere). The seals are those copper rings in the picture with the quarter, the covers are torqued so the knife edge deforms the copper and creates a seal. The chamber is a salvaged unit (with ports upon ports with some extra ports thrown in for good measure), but the hardware and the covers (the large covers are about $200 a pop) are all brand spanking new.

I believe the thinking is that inside the vacuum, a plasma will be submitted to an electromagnetic field with the hopes that the field creates a point of compression and, ideally, thermonuclear fusion

Or, it's a time machine. Who knows- I'm just paid to turn wrenches.

That comes tomorrow, should be a party. Thankfully leaks into a vacuum aren't that difficult to find with an active pump and a pressure gauge- squirting just about any liquid on the flanges of a port will, if there's a leak, draw the liquid in, and then the liquid will expand rapidly, increasing the pressure by a power of 10 or more. It's pretty obvious. That doesn't mean it won't be tedious though.

As a total aside, when I worked fixing cars, one of the most tried and true ways to find a vacuum leak was to wave an unlit propane torch around the vacuum lines of an idling engine and listen for the increase in idle speed.

SCIENCE!

Neat. I work in the more-or-less semiconductor field, although I haven't had any direct ownership of vacuum tools. Hopefully I'll find work again soon. Most of the troubleshooting I've observed has been done with helium sniffing.